Light-emitting diode (LED) lighting systems are in common use today. They offer improved electrical efficiency when compared with incandescent and fluorescent lighting. Individual LED lights are relatively small, ranging in size from a fraction of one millimeter for a single LED to an array of LEDs that is a square centimeter or more, comprising an array of smaller devices. Such lights incorporate lenses, reflectors, phosphors, and diffusers that influence the size, shape, and appearance of light output.
Prior-art LEDs are often sold in groups formed into a strip configuration that can have any length. These are often seen as flexible strands of lights used in holiday decorations, advertising, and emergency lighting. One such flexible strip configuration employs wire busses to which LEDs and a power source are connected.
Another prior-art strip configuration comprises conductors on one or more printed circuit boards (PCBs) to which are attached a plurality of LEDs, often by a well-known surface mount method.
In order to cause the LEDS on the strip to illuminate, power must be supplied to them from a power supply, which usually energizes pair of wires with a direct-current potential. These wires must be connected to the conductors on the PCB to supply operating current for the LEDs. Various connectors have been used and proposed to connect such wires to the PCB. The following is a list of some possibly relevant prior art that shows connectors for connecting wires to prior-art LED strip lighting systems. Following this list I provide a discussion of these references.
Patent. or Pub. Nr.Kind CodeIssue or Pub. DatePatentee or ApplicantUS 5,848,837B11998 Dec. 15GustafsonUS 6,802,748B22004 Oct. 12Wertz et al.US 2009/0064571A12009 Mar. 12FakhariEP 2078895B12012 Dec. 12Flashaar-BlooedornWO 2013/010445A12013 Jan. 24Yong Zhang
Gustafson shows an integrally formed linear light strip with LEDs. The light strip is encapsulated between upper and lower thermoplastic extrusions. First and second bus elements are spaced apart and parallel to one-another on a printed circuit strip and LEDs are connected between the first and second bus elements. Connectors at the ends of his light strips connect to either a power source or to another light strip. The connectors are “metal connector pins heat-staked into the thermoplastic to contact the strip bus elements for interconnection of the light strips or for connection of light strips to the power source . . . ” Gustafson also suggests using “conventional wiring means” or an electrical connector such as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,391,088 (to Tomchak, et al.) and used in lighting strips or surface wiring. The connector taught in this patent employs male pins that are crimped onto the ends of wires, are encased in an electrically conductive gel, and housed in a first rigid housing that mates with a second rigid housing with flat electrical conductors. “Conventional wiring means” implies the soldering or clamping together of conductors. The connectors taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,391,088 must be urged together using at least one screw. None of these wiring means provides a quick-connect and quick-release feature simply joining the ends of conductors and the printed circuit portion of his light strip.
Wertz et al. show a three-point spring contact design used to connect varied electrical components to circuit boards. An elongated body has a long axis extending between a solderable portion at a first end and three spring contacts at a second end. The three spring contacts are urged against a single wire with the axis of the wire oriented perpendicularly to the long axis of the body. While this connector is useful for its intended purpose, its required orientation and method of connection to a wire renders it unsuitable as low-profile, flat connector to a PCB.
Fakhari shows an electrical conductor strip containing embedded wires. The strip is an elongated, flat ribbon. It is used as a lawn edging and is normally installed underground so that the top surface, i.e. the edge of the ribbon, faces upward. Lights are attached to the embedded wires using various means. Various means including wire nuts are used to join strips by joining their wires serially and to connect light sources such as LEDs to these wires. While this strip is useful it is also very bulky by nature, due to its outdoor placement at the lawn edge.
Flashaar-Blooedorn shows an LED light strip with a bus having a plurality of wires with self-healing insulation. The wires carry power for the LEDs and optionally also carry data for controlling the operation of the light strip. A plurality of pins connected to the light strip pierce the insulation on the wires and deliver power to the LEDs. A snap-on bridge connector joins LED strips. While this strip is useful, it is also bulky by nature since it contains a layer of wires underneath the LEDs.
Yong shows a piercing connector for a flexible LED light strip. Wires for supplying power to the LED strip are each terminated a piercing point. The piercing points are held in a fixture with a lid. The light strip is positioned in the fixture and the lid is closed, causing the piercing points to pierce conductors on the strip, thereby securing the strip to the connector.